Purdue University in Indiana is expanding the nation's largest university propulsion laboratory for research aimed at reducing fuel consumption and emissions for next-generation jet engines, school officials announced.

The expansion at the Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories will include new test cells to support laser-based measurements in a building to be constructed adjacent to Zucrow's high-pressure lab. Developed in 1964 as part of NASA's Apollo program, the high-pressure lab houses research sponsored by aerospace companies, NASA, the U.S. Air Force and other agencies.

"We are doing great things in jet engine research," Leah Jamieson, Purdue's John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering, said in a statement. "This expansion will boost Zucrow's research collaborations with leading firms and provide additional educational opportunities to prepare our students for jobs in industry, academia and the public sector."

The new one-floor, 9,600-square-foot facility will cost $8.2 million. Construction is expected to begin in 2016 and take about a year to complete. Much of the cost - $5 million - is coming from the Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of a $40 million grant, the largest cash donation in Purdue's history.

The project will include renovations to the current high-pressure lab, including additional office space for growing numbers of faculty and students.

Zucrow is jointly operated by the university's School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

"One of the reasons Zucrow is a top research venue is because we have an internationally unique infrastructure to do this kind of work," said Stephen D. Heister, Zucrow director and the Raisbeck Engineering Distinguished Professor for Engineering and Technology Integration. "However, the lack of space has been a problem, and the new high-pressure lab is a huge step forward."

Zucrow is a complex of six facilities founded in 1946 on a 24-acre site west of campus. Over its nearly 70-year history, it has produced more than 1,000 graduates, including several who later became NASA astronauts. The labs specialize in rockets and gas-turbine engines, with faculty and students performing a wide range of propulsion-related research. More than 90 graduate students are working in the labs, which have annual research expenditures exceeding $9 million.